Chapter 6: Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: A Needs-Based, Developmental Perspective

Consider the following parable of an old gentleman (probably a retired psychology professor) who was bothered by the noisy play of boys in his neighborhood (Casady, 1974, as reported in Covington & Beery, 1976):

The point of this fable, a warning of sorts, is that paying people for what they might otherwise do freely can transform play into drudgery, and further that work that is undercompensated is likely not worth the effort. This parable appears to have stood the test of time. It has been so widely accepted for so long that the principle it espouses has attained the status of an “illuminated” truth. Indeed, this author has often drawn on this fable to bolster the proposition that tangible rewards adversely affect intrinsic interest and subject-matter appreciation (e.g., Covington, 1992). Other observers have also been quick to accept this negative verdict regarding the effects of tangible rewards on intrinsic engagement, a principle commonly referred to in a matter-of-fact way in many introductory psychology textbooks (for a commentary, see Pittenger, 1996).